They’re in Tips for Bicycling Monterey County‘s section on “Riding Skills, Safety, and Bike Laws,” under topic #20: “Local ordinances about bicycles on sidewalks, plus other local bike-related ordinances.”Bicycling Monterey’s focus there is sidewalks, although also included are, e.g., that some local cities require bicycles be licensed. For any additions or updates, check with local police departments or other local officials.

Knowing local ordinances can help you avoid a ticket. See an example below, regarding the City of Greenfield.

Why does this matter?Here’s just one reason: As Rachel Zentz’s 8/10/16 Greenfield Police Log report in the The Salinas Californian listed, a man was recently cited in Greenfield for riding a bicycle on a sidewalk.

Does that mean sidewalk riding is prohibited in Greenfield? No. He was cited only because he was bicycling on a sidewalk in thebusiness district, which is prohibited by Greenfield code 10.28.030 (To find that code, and others, on the Greenfield Municipal Code web page, click the + sign for Title 10 Vehicles and Traffic, which will then display:

By the way, Bicycling Monterey reached out to the City of Greenfield in August to encourage that the City edit their website so people don’t miss that restriction about bicycling on a sidewalk in a business district. It was not in the “Bicycles” section but instead was only under the “Skateboards and other human-powered devices” section, where some people might overlook it.

Also in the “Skateboards…” section, where it could easily be missed, is that it’s not permitted to ride a bicycle after dark on any sidewalk.

The City staffer that Bicycling Monterey spoke with was courteous and interested in resolving this concern. They understood it would be helpful to make it easier for people bicycling Greenfield to find all bike-related codes on the city’s website. However, as of October 25, 2016, the website had not yet been edited; chances are the request is buried on a busy city staffer’s to-do list. We can relate to overflowing to-do lists, and since Bicycling Monterey is a volunteer gig for us, we could use your help: advocate for bicycling by following up on that request. How? Contact the City of Greenfield. Request that their webmaster add to the page “Chapter 10.24 BICYCLES” the following text: “For additional City of Greenfield codes that apply to bicycling, refer to Chapter 10.28 SKATEBOARDS AND OTHER HUMAN-POWERED DEVICES.”

Special thanks to Sergeant M. Rice of Greenfield Police Department for teaming up with Bicycling Monterey to strengthen educational outreach about City of Greenfield, CA bicycle ordinances. This isn’t the first time that Greenfield PD has teamed up with Bicycling Monterey to support people who bike; click here for another example.

I appreciate that in Monterey County, our local police departments and sheriff’s office are generally very savvy about bike laws, so you are unlikely to find people on bikes incorrectly cited, as sometimes happens elsewhere. See Constables of the Peace: Cops on bicycles in Monterey County for more examples of the bike friendliness of Monterey County law enforcement.

More tips about bicycling Greenfield

Hey, those bikes need a better place to park!

Maybe you saw the three bicycles by the store in the Greenfield photo above and thought: they could use a better place to be parked. Indeed they could. And Transportation Agency for Monterey County can provide in 2017 (as part of a three-year program that began in 2015) free bike racks, free skateboard racks, free bike lockers, and free bike maintenance stations. To learn more, click here.